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UNICEF ropes in Big B as goodwill ambassador
MUMBAI: UNICEF appointed Amitabh Bachchan as its international Goodwill Ambassador in a formal signing event with UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy.
“Amitabh has the star power to illuminate the lives of the millions of children who are living in dire circumstances. We look forward to a long collaboration with him, and we feel honoured to have him as part of the UNICEF family,” said Bellamy.
Bellamy appoints Amitabh Bachchan a UNICEF goodwill ambassador at UNICEF House Bachchan’s collaboration with UNICEF began in 2002 when a polio outbreak in northern India threatened to spread. His appearance in a series of award-winning television and radio commercials encouraging parents to take their children for vaccination against the crippling disease played an important role in saving lives.
Following the devastating tsunami in December, Bachchan appeared in a public service announcement on behalf of the victims and reminded people of their collective duty to protect and care for children, especially in times of crisis.
Bachchan addresses the gathering at the ceremony appointing him a UNICEF goodwill ambassador at UNICEF House with Bellamy. As a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Bachchan’s special areas of focus will be polio eradication and HIV/AIDS. His role will include highlighting these issues with field visits, public appearances, and speaking out on behalf of children.
Bachchan is joining a select company of other public figures who have stood up for children, from the first goodwill ambassador Danny Kaye appointed in 1954 to the legendary Audrey Hepburn to the present day champions for children, Sir Roger Moore, Harry Belafonte and singer Angelique Kidjo, to name a few.
UNICEF goodwill ambassador Amitabh Bachchan presents a copy of his autobiography ‘To Be or Not To Be – Amitabh Bachchan’ to UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy
UNICEF staff greeted Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan to the UNICEF House in a traditional Indian welcome for honoured guests. He then met with Bellamy and later signed a letter of commitment for a two-year assignment with the agency.
“I am thrilled to be named goodwill ambassador, this is a great honour for me. I truly hope I will be able to make a difference in children’s lives,” said Bachchan.
Also present at the function were Amar Singh, Tina Ambani and Abhishek Bachchan.
MAM
How beverage brands are rethinking marketing strategies for weather-led demand
SLMG Beverages Private Limited joint managing director Paritosh Ladhani.
MUMBAI: As Sun climbs up the hemisphere, summer has clearly arrived in India. On 7th March 2026 Delhi registered a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years. Climate Change has been prolonging summers by causing earlier spring warming, delayed autumn cooling, and more frequent, intense heatwaves that persist for much longer periods.
In an endeavor to stay ahead of the curve, Beverage Brands are shifting from fixed seasonal marketing tactics to weather responsive strategies backed by data-driven insights, flexible campaigns, and diversified portfolios to capitalize on unruly temperature spike. In 2025, India’s beverage market experienced a massive, heat-triggered surge with carbonated drinks and ice cream volumes spiking 20–25 per cent in the March quarter itself on the back of hottest February in 125 years.
Clearly campaign timelines are being advanced to reap the seasonal shift in line with the jumping mercury. In the Indian context where Cricket is nothing short of religion, big ticket tournaments like T20 World Cup, Indian Premier League, ICC Champions Trophy provide plethora of opportunities to calibrate marketing campaign designs and associated business strategies to associate refreshment with community viewing both outdoor and indoors. A new trend that has taken the world by storm is that of booking the theatres for bonhomie viewing. It has also opened avenues for joint marketing initiatives by the Multiplex and Beverage Brands.
Price disrupting small potions and value packs tend to drive significantly higher volumes owing to volumetric flexibility and affordability to the consumers. Ramping up of cold supply chains for transit and at point of sales (POS) are strategic business imperatives that again define success of beverage brands.
In the era of AI and Big Data it is easy to track and calibrate messaging based on daily or weekly weather changes. Geo-targeted digital advertisement campaigns are also being run during heatwaves to make the business and marketing imperative very contextual. These pre-emptive strategies fueled by real time data and technology immensely help beverage brands to adjust supplies to the areas that are likely to generate more demand.
Novelty brings premium to the FMCG Sector and Beverage Brands are no exception. Newer SKUs build up excitement in consumers besides imparting the scope of frequent revitalization of brand marketing campaigns. Ensuring continuum of supply chain across material suppliers, logistics providers, distributors/wholesalers, and retailers become a strategic business strategy imperative for beverage brands during peak season.
Carbonated drinks among other beverages including packaged mineral water sell like hotcakes in summers, a period where holiday season gives big impetus to sales volumes. Tying up with air carriers railways, amusement parks, malls, convention centers for inclusion in the onboard beverage deck also holds a big window of opportunity for brands.
Limited period diversification into special summer categories entailing juices and functional beverages to capture the broader hydration market is also a business cum marketing imperative that beverage brands eye on. This also brings to fore the responsible side of the brand placing the compass on wellness of consumers.
Seasons are cyclic, hence summers are inevitable. Further, due to anthropogenic climate change, summers surely have been staging prolonged appearance that keep bringing beverage brands on to their drawing boards frequently for strategizing business and marketing campaigns that are agile, refreshment-focused, visually dominant in retail, affordable, and optimally promoted through seasonal campaigns in above and below the line media.
